MPEG Video Compression
MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 are international video compression standards defining respective video syntaxes that provides an efficient way to represent image sequences in the form of more compact coded data. The language of the coded bits is the “syntax.” For example, a few tokens can represent an entire block of samples (e.g. 64 samples for MPEG-2). Both MPEG standards also describe a decoding (reconstruction) process where the coded bits are mapped from the compact representation into an approximation of the original format of the image sequence. For example, a flag in the coded bitstream may signal whether the following bits are to be preceded with a prediction algorithm prior to being decoded with a discrete cosine transform (DCT) algorithm. The algorithms comprising the decoding process are regulated by the semantics defined by these MPEG standards. This syntax can be applied to exploit common video characteristics such as spatial redundancy, temporal redundancy, uniform motion, spatial masking, etc. In effect, these MPEG standards define a programming language as well as a data format. An MPEG decoder must be able to parse and decode an incoming data stream, but so long as the data stream complies with the corresponding MPEG syntax, a wide variety of possible data structures and compression techniques can be used (although technically this deviates from the standard since the semantics are not conformant). It is also possible to carry the needed semantics within an alternative syntax.
These MPEG standards use a variety of compression methods, including intraframe and interframe methods. In most video scenes, the background remains relatively stable while action takes place in the foreground. The background may move, but a great deal of the scene often is redundant. These MPEG standards start compression by creating a reference frame called an “intra” frame or “I frame”. I frames are compressed without reference to other frames and thus contain an entire frame of video information. I frames provide entry points into a data bitstream for random access, but can only be moderately compressed. Typically, the data representing I frames is placed in the bitstream every 12 to 15 frames (although it is also useful in some circumstances to use much wider spacing between I frames). Thereafter, since only a small portion of the frames that fall between the reference I frames are different from the bracketing I frames, only the image differences are captured, compressed, and stored. Two types of frames are used for such differences—predicted frames (P frames), and bi-directional predicted (or interpolated) frames (B frames).
P frames generally are encoded with reference to a past frame (either an I frame or a previous P frame), and, in general, are used as a reference for subsequent P frames. P frames receive a fairly high amount of compression. B frames provide the highest amount of compression but require both a past and a future reference frame in order to be encoded. Bi-directional frames are never used for reference frames in standard compression technologies. P and I frames are “referenceable frames” because they can be referenced by P or B frames.
Macroblocks are regions of image pixels. For MPEG-2, a macroblock is a 16×16 pixel grouping of four 8×8 DCT blocks, together with one motion vector for P frames, and one or two motion vectors for B frames. Macroblocks within P frames may be individually encoded using either intra-frame or inter-frame (predicted) coding. Macroblocks within B frames may be individually encoded using intra-frame coding, forward predicted coding, backward predicted coding, or both forward and backward (i.e., bi-directionally interpolated) predicted coding. A slightly different but similar structure is used in MPEG-4 video coding.
After coding, an MPEG data bitstream comprises a sequence of I, P, and B frames. A sequence may consist of almost any pattern of I, P, and B frames (there are a few minor semantic restrictions on their placement). However, it is common in industrial practice to have a fixed frame pattern (e.g., IBBPBBPBBPBBPBB).
Motion Vector Prediction
In MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (and similar standards, such as H.263), use of B-type (bi-directionally predicted) frames have proven to benefit compression efficiency. Motion vectors for each macroblock of such frames can be predicted by any one of the following three methods:
Mode 1: Predicted forward from the previous I or P frame (i.e., a non-bidirectionally predicted frame).
Mode 2: Predicted backward from the subsequent I or P frame.
Mode 3: Bi-directionally predicted from both the subsequent and previous I or P frame.
Mode 1 is identical to the forward prediction method used for P frames. Mode 2 is the same concept, except working backward from a subsequent frame. Mode 3 is an interpolative mode that combines information from both previous and subsequent frames.
In addition to these three modes, MPEG-4 also supports a second interpolative motion vector prediction mode for B frames: direct mode prediction using the motion vector from the subsequent P frame, plus a delta value (if the motion vector from the co-located P macroblock is split into 8×8 mode—resulting in four motion vectors for the 16×16 macroblock—then the delta is applied to all four independent motion vectors in the B frame). The subsequent P frame's motion vector points at the previous P or I frame. A proportion is used to weight the motion vector from the subsequent P frame. The proportion is the relative time position of the current B frame with respect to the subsequent P and previous P (or I) frames.
FIG. 1 is a time line of frames and MPEG-4 direct mode motion vectors in accordance with the prior art. The concept of MPEG-4 direct mode (mode 4) is that the motion of a macroblock in each intervening B frame is likely to be near the motion that was used to code the same location in the following P frame. A delta is used to make minor corrections to a proportional motion vector derived from the corresponding motion vector (MV) 103 for the subsequent P frame. Shown in FIG. 1 is the proportional weighting given to the motion vectors 101, 102 for each intermediate B frame 104a, 104b as a function of “time distance” between the previous P or I frame 105 and the next P frame 106. The motion vector 101, 102 assigned to a corresponding intermediate B frame 104a, 104b is equal to the assigned weighting value (⅓ and ⅔, respectively) times the motion vector 103 for the next P frame, plus the delta value.
With MPEG-2, all prediction modes for B frames are tested in coding, and are compared to find the best prediction for each macroblock. If no prediction is good, then the macroblock is coded stand-alone as an “I” (for “intra”) macroblock. The coding mode is selected as the best mode among forward (mode 1), backward (mode 2), and bi-directional (mode 3), or as intra coding. With MPEG-4, the intra coding choice is not allowed. Instead, direct mode becomes the fourth choice. Again, the best coding mode is chosen, based upon some best-match criteria. In the reference MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 software encoders, the best match is determined using a DC match (Sum of Absolute Difference, or “SAD”).
The number of successive B frames in a coded data bitstream is determined by the “M” parameter value in MPEG. M minus one is the number of B frames between each P frame and the next P (or I). Thus, for M=3, there are two B frames between each P (or I) frame, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The main limitation in restricting the value of M, and therefore the number of sequential B frames, is that the amount of motion change between P (or I) frames becomes large. Higher numbers of B frames mean longer amounts of time between P (or I) frames. Thus, the efficiency and coding range limitations of motion vectors create the ultimate limit on the number of intermediate B frames.
It is also significant to note that P frames carry “change energy” forward with the moving picture stream, since each decoded P frame is used as the starting point to predict the next subsequent P frame. B frames, however, are discarded after use. Thus, any bits used to create B frames are used only for that frame, and do not provide corrections that aid decoding of subsequent frames, unlike P frames.